Operculina sericantha
Nomenclature
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
Operculina sericantha (Miquel) Ooststr. in Pulle, Fl. Surinam 87. 1932.
Synonyms:
Ipomoea sericantha Miquel, Stirp. Surin. 131. 1850. TYPE. Surinam. flumen Marrowyne superius, Aug 1844, Kappler 1864 (holotype U; isotype S).
Operculina surinamensis Meisner in Martius, Fl. Bras. 7: 214. 1869. TYPE. Surinam. ad Paramaribo et Caxanama, Wullschlaegel 854 (holotype BR; isotype BR).
Description
Habit:
Lianas or vigorous climbers; stems to several meters, all vegetative parts glabrous, fistulose, smooth or striate, never alate, to 6 mm in diameter.
Leaves:
Leaves with petioles slender, longitudinally striate, basally swollen, 35–75 mm long, the blades usually broadly cordate, occasionally ovate-lanceolate, coriaceous, margins entire or undulate, basally cordate, apically attenuate or caudate, the secondary veins slightly impressed on the adaxial surface and prominent below, 75–160 mm long, 20–115 mm wide.
Inflorescences:
Inflorescences dichasial or Flowers solitary; peduncles stout, cylindrical, smooth, never alate, usually exceeding the subtending petioles, to 3–4 mm in diameter, 55–155 mm long; bracts and bracteoles membranaceous, fugaceous, lanceolate to elliptic, basally truncate, apically rounded to acute, reddish-brown, 7–15 mm long, 2–6 mm wide; pedicels slender, clavate, striate to faintly 5-angled, thickening (but not appreciably lengthening) in Fruit, 17–40 mm long
Flowers:
sepals more or less equal or theouter 2 slightly longer, membranaceous, elliptic to broadly ovate, basally rounded or truncate, margins entire, slightly scarious, apically obtuse or rounded, mucronate, 17–30 mm long, 8–20 mm wide, enlarging and becoming chartaceous in Fruit; corollas campanulate to broadly funnelform, white, limb entire or slightly 5-lobed, with sericeous indumentum onthe interplicae, 55–70 mm long, 40–55 mm wide; stamens more or less equal, included within the corolla tube, the filaments simple, glabrous, the anthers spirally dehiscent, twisted at maturity, white,6–8 mm long; ovary conical, glabrous, 2 mm long; disc annular, glabrous; the style filiform, glabrous, shorter than corolla tube, the stigma 2–globose.
Fruits:
Fruits operculate-capsular, often 2-locular, each locule with 1–2 Seeds, the accrescent calyx surrounding the Fruit, the capsule 30–35 mm long, 35–40 mm in diameter
Seeds:
Seeds subglobose, dark brown to black, with a prominent hilum, glabrous, 10–13 mm in diameter.
References:
Austin, D. F. & G. W. Staples. Convolvulaceae in Flora Neotropica [unpublished data].
Biogeography, Ecology and Natural History
Distribution Map:
Distribution:
Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil
References:
Austin, D. F. & G. W. Staples. Convolvulaceae in Flora Neotropica [unpublished data].
Authorship for webpage
Editor:
George Staples, Esmond Er
Contributors: